To start, whenever a large monster in the area sights you, a Scare Chord plays. Woe betide you if the monster is right behind you and you didn't expect it, or you're headed for an area boundary and the monster suddenly shows up right in front of you. It's a Jump Scare both out-of and In-Universe, because unless you have certain food buffs, your character flinches.

The Royal Ludroth's glowing yellow eyes underwater. Imagine that in place of Jaws...

In Tri, one of the stages of the Tundra is an ice cave. The floor of the ice cave is transparent ice, which underneath can be seen thousands of bones. These caves also tend to be the dwelling areas of the Gigginox, who in and of themselves are a nightmare.

Speaking of the Gigginox, the Khezu is horrifying. That sniffing...

To go into specifics, both are gurgling, worm like creatures that live in darkness. They both exhibit weird sounds, and they tend to appear when you're fighting other monsters. If the other entries haven't taught you to fear the dark, try seeking one out.

In Tri (but not Tri Ultimate and Portable 3rd), the caves in Tundra areas 4 and 5 are pitch-black due to a lack of light. All you can see of the Gigginox are its bioluminescent patches. Sweet dreams.

Unlike other monsters, which have their own Leitmotif when they're in the area and attacking you, or have the map's respective boss music play at the least, no music plays when Khezu is attacking you.

The Diablos gives a good Jump Scare whenever it erupts from the sand, and then screeches at full volume.

Any time an environment is unstable. Any of the already mentioned monsters could appear when you least wanted it, and quite a few players have been introduced to the Gigginox this way...

Picture this: You've been stalking a large monster for a few minutes, and finally manage to locate the thing. Right after engaging it in combat, you hear a loud thump behind you, the "spotted" Scare Chord plays, and the screen vibrates from a loud roar that isn't coming from the thing you're fighting...

The introductory cutscene for the Azure Rathalos in 4U is a huge Jump Scare. You leap down the ravine from your base camp into the Sunken Hollow, right into Area 1; shouldn't be a problem since Area 1 is normally populated with only Herbivores, right? Well, upon landing, you turn to your left and spot the Azure Rathalos only a few yards from your face, and then a loud snarl to the right of where you landed reveals an angry Seregios...

Rage Mode, especially for the Deviljho.

The Ceadeus and Goldbeard Ceadeus, if you think about it. The standard Ceadeus has one horn growing over its eye, which—as evidenced by the Moga earthquakes—causes it an immense amount of pain. To make matters worse, the Goldbeard Ceadeus' eyes have both fallen victim to its horns in the same way, assumedly blinding it entirely. But, like the Khezu, it can still sense where you are. But, unlike the Khezu, it doesn't need to sniff around. It just knows.

Quite a few of the Ecologies fit into this. For example...

The afore mentioned Khezu dragging a Kelbi to its doom.

The Gobul swallowing whole an entire school of fish, which simply disappear in a flash, before attacking and swallowing whole a cow-sized Epioth.

The Plesioth attacking an Aptonoth trying to get a drink, dragging it into the water with it making but a token effort to escape its doom.

The Gigginox vomiting up its young complete with high pitched gurgling. Lovely.

Nerscylla. Not only is one HUGE creepy crawlie, it preys on Gypceros, quite large dragons, skins them after they're dead, and uses their hide as some kind of armor. Their home area, the Sunken Hollow (later the Volcanic Hollow), is chock full of massive cobwebs, particularly in Areas 3-6 and 8, and you can see the skinned, webbed-up carcasses of multiple Gypceros dangling lifelessly from the ceiling in Area 5. Hope you're not arachnophobic!

Even better is its subspecies, Shrouded Nerscylla. Instead of Gypceros, it uses Khezu hide. Yes, the Khezu, that monster.

The Daimyo Hermitaur and the Shogun Ceanataur are based off of giant hermit crabs. So, they'd live in giant shells or rocks, right? No, they live in the massive skulls of other nightmare inducing monsters.

The Deviljho, originating from Tri, is the personification of this. They're gigantic monsters akin to a tyrannosaur, but look and act more like Godzilla in a bad mood, and have a roar that, as the Hell Is That Noise entry on the YMMV page describes, sounds less like a roar and more like a bomb going off. They're massive apex predators who can wipe out entire species when hungry, and when they get mad, they wreath themselves in their own rage (see above picture).

They have a nasty tendency to pop out when you're fighting other monsters. You could just be walking around on any assigned High Rank mission, and then BOOM. Deviljho incoming, and all you can think about is getting out of there as quickly as possible. Then there's the Savage Deviljho, providing the page image...

To further add to this, the "Everyone So Big-Big!" cinematic contains all sorts of monsters. As Cha-Cha walks along, they all sit tight (except for a Giggi)... but then he reaches the end and a Deviljho appears and starts chasing him and the hunter.

A rare occurrence is when a Deviljho moves into the area you're in JUST as you are walking into the stage boundary. You're not expecting anything and then OH MY GOD THERE'S A GIANT FREAKING DINOSAUR RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. And of course it plays the Scare Chord of a monster noticing you. Watch out, Slender Man... there's a new Jump Scarer in town.

Remember that Rage mode mentioned above? Well, along with speed and attack boost, the Deviljho is able to hit you with defense down and severe dragonblight. Pants heavy enough?Because it gets better. That stat boost and the ability to induce dragonblight?? That's Savage Deviljho in a GOOD MOOD!

The Gigginox (mentioned above) can reproduce by itself and produce hundreds of baby Giggi in one day, take a second to think what would happen if even one days worth of baby Giggi survived into adulthood, all producing more and more baby Giggi.

One more thing that's always made the Gigginox unsettling is the fact that it's very near bilaterally symmetrical down its waist. It clearly has a front and back end, evidenced by the fact that one side dispenses toxins and the other lays eggs, but they're similar to the point that it can sometimes be hard to distinguish between the two. Of course, on top of that, it raises both ends when it roars (upon seeing you or entering rage mode). So does that mean that it...? ...Ugh.

The Giggi themselves are pretty creepy, having no eyes and a gaping mouth with More Teeth than the Osmond Family. They can latch on to you, sapping your HP until you roll them off.

The new flagship monster for Monster Hunter 4 is the Gore Magala, which is essentially a Gigginox, but worse. Take the Gigginox, paint it black, give it an insect-like exoskeleton, make it an Elder Dragon, and give it The Virus with the ability to start a Zombie Apocalypse simply by having a hunter or another monster touch it or the hair and scales it leaves behind. The end result looks a lot like a Xenomorph. It's theme music isn't that bad, but its "noticed you" Scare Chord is absolutely terrifying. Oh, and the worst part? It's only in its juvenile form. There's an adult version of it later in the game, which is even more fun.

The Yama Tsukami is also a little creepy with it looking like a floating Cthulhu head, fortunately it's peaceful in-universe except when approached by hunters.

Creepy initially; worse still when you see its mouth.

Endgame monsters like Akantor can be pretty scary the first time you fight them, with attacks that can easily OHKO you, being larger than any monster you fought up to that point, and most of the areas you fight them in, you can't get back to the camp once you enter it.

Frontier's Raviente is the largest monster in the series and possibly one of the most intimidating. When it gets hungry, it gets up and starts wiping out entire ecosystems. It takes dozens of hunters several hours to kill this thing... if they even do.

Its introductory video really shows you how hugely destructive this thing is. Depicting a peaceful island, flourishing with life, the mood suddenly gets tense and all the monsters start fleeing from something. Suddenly. the Raviente pops up from the ground, swallows a dozen tank-sized Aptonoth in one bite, then proceeds to destroy everything in its wake. A volcano erupts, the earth splits, and this is all from one monster. It really means something when everything else, up to the Espinas and the Rathian, is running away from you.

OK, so you all saw the above, and you may ask: What can be worse? How about Gogmazios from 4U? It IS, probably in the whole franchise, the closest thing to a MUTO or a Class-5 Kaiju, and totally doesn't look out of place in a Kaiju movie. If you think a six-legged, chemical-eating, multi-storey zombie-like behemoth covered with tar doesn't look scary, how about adding a large-scale tar breath to the mix? And itstheme music is just downright scary. Also, when this thing flies (yes, this thing can fly), it unleashes an attack pattern which is nothing short of decimating the whole area. No wonder the guild want to fix the fort ASAP.

Also, unlike other end-game bosses (ala Elder Dragons) in the franchise, which at least have some sort of in-game references (be it poems, documents and else) hinting their presence or origins, there's absolutely nothing hinting the presence of Gogmazios. It really sinks that, when the guild knows nothing about an ancient monster which bears the first Dragonator on its back, then where the hell does this thing come from!?And then there's the whole WMG about Gogmazios is actually an artificial dragon-weapon which want revenge on humans......

The very existence of Fatalis itself. It is an Elder Dragon that once destroyed an entire civilization. It's fire attacks can blast a massive chunk of your HP and its physical attacks hit like a truck, meaning you either have to wear high grade Rathalos Armor or armor made from the beast itself or you'll be introduced to the ground in one hit. In-universe, this thing is so terrifying that the Lao Shan Lung is said to be running away from this creature.

The real selling point about the Fatalis is its equipment, which according to legends, can kill the user or even disappear without a trace if worn too long. It is also said to haunt their dreams and even possess them as they are unconscious. The weapons themselves not only have a demonic feel to them but also said to haunt the wielder's subconscious with abyssal screams and may even EAT THE USER ITSELF! No wonder it was advised not to wear the armor.

The icing on the cake?There are THREE of these bastards alive and this one's only the regular Fatalis. The other two are even stronger than it. The mere thought of the trio together in one place is already outright mind-breaking.

Frontier-G gives us two extra monsters, also both unknown - in fact they are literally called "Unknown" because they're such a recent and powerful find that no one knows what to name them. There's even a big UNKNOWN stamp on the screen on the start of the quest to warn you that you're about to face one. One monster is dubbed the Black Flying Wyvern, similar to the Rathian and is Red and Black and Evil All Over; the other is the Black Fox Wyvern, which looks like an odd fusion of Tigrex and Nargacuga with colour-swapping diamonds on its body, and is again red and black.

Special mention goes to the Black Flying Wyvern. If you attempt the highest-difficulty version of its quest, you're in for a surprise; it gets a second phase where it suddenly takes off into the sky at incredible speeds, creating a whirlwind drops massive chunks of the tower on you if you don't move. And when it comes back down, its red parts have become blazing inferno orange and are literally on fire, including two parts on its head which now resemble Glowing Eyes of Doom, and it is now more violent and much more powerful. It gives the vibe that you're not hunting a monster, but rather a demon that crawled out of the pits of Hell. The musical score even changes to reflect this, as if to say, "You're not hunting anymore. You're struggling to survive."

One of the new monsters in Monster Hunter 4, the Seltas Queen, isn't scary on its own (unless you're squeamish about Big Creepy-Crawlies), but its offensive tactics involve snatching the Seltas, its much smaller mate... and then fusing with it.

The Seltas Queen and her treatment of the Seltas she summons is really unsettling. In her introduction she seems to go out of her way to abuse the Seltas as much as possible for the hell of it, and if she's hungry she has no qualms picking the poor thing from her back and SMASHING HIM to death so she can eat him. In addition her sounds and movements seem less like those of an insect and more of some horrifying war machine.

The Frenzy virus's effect on monsters. To give an example, in this video, you see a pack of Ioprey take down a Zinogre. While this might seem ok by itself, once the frenzied Zinogre strikes back against Iodrome, the Ioprey turn on it and begin cannibalizing it while it's still alive.

The ominous jingle that plays when a monster gives in to the Frenzy Virus.

When a Frenzied monster spots you, they come with their own jarring Scare Chord.

So remember how hunters can overcome the virus and get a stat boost? Well in 4 Ultimate monsters can do it as well! Referred to as the Apex state, this state gives the monster a massive power boost; No Sell elemental weaknesses; and have body parts that are Nigh Invulnerable; while still keeping the ability to spread the Frenzy Virus. Also there is no way to permanently keep them out of this state once they trigger it save for killing or capturing them.

The Heaven's Mount area in 4 and 4 Ultimate is acrophobia fuel. It's more or less a collection of heavily damaged-looking ledges that surprisingly don't just crumble off at the slightest disturbance. You can easily look below to see that you are perhaps a few thousand meters above sea level, judging by the presence of the cloud cover below you.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has a bit of Gameplay and Story Segregation with horrific implications. To harvest Kelbi horns, you need to stun a Kelbi and carve off it while it's still alive. But you can also obtain Kelbi pelts, meat, and liver this way. And afterward, the Kelbi gets up and runs away...

In general, being stunned, low on health, and around a monster about to finish you off is this, especially if the next defeat will result in quest failure. It's the series equivalent of a deer-in-headlights moment.

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